@pjsliney @requiem In this case, it's particularly a number of stories from suicide attempts with .22 weaponry. In particular, they can penetrate the thinnest parts of the skull, but cannot exit through the thicker ones, so they tend to bounce around instead. Ribs would likely be similar. Beyond that, you'd have to go to someone who has the data. I've done extensive shooting with .22 and found that they often can't cleanly penetrate even moderately thin metals like networking gear chassis. Aluminum cans however, you can blast those all day.

You don't have to go MUCH bigger though, I know people who argue that .38 ACP is too small, but I don't think so.

@requiem (And far more are from suicides than accidents.)

@requiem The thing about a 22 vs most others is that with the 22, you wouldn't be able to rely as much on the "Center of Mass" shot that you would with anything else, shooting at center of mass is one thing that makes people much safer with firearms, as it regards bystanders, as it greatly reduces the chances of missing, and hitting a target behind. The lucky targets you would have to hit would be, for example, the eyes, or the heart directly through a lucky shot between ribs. Any other hits, they kill you then have to go to a doctor themselves and spend weeks in recovery.

@requiem (I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a pellet gun either, the last time someone hit me in the foot with one it stung for several days, but I wouldn't consider those enough to stop an attacker. It would require an extraordinarily lucky shot.)

@requiem a .22 can cause damage even if it won't necessarily put an end to an attack, so nobody would want to be on the receiving end. That doesn't mean you would want to be on the attacking end with it either, because it would require a lucky hit to stop an attack.

@requiem @kusuriya So, 12 years? This is a more normal state of being really, it's basically how the world has been for ages.